Ear Biting Series
by Hi I'm Lou
Summary: Short series depicting a weird quirk I imagine Clint having. Warning: Slash. Don't like, don't read. DISCLAIMER: I OWN NOTHING TO DO WITH THE MCU, THE AVENGERS, THE ACTORS, ETC. The genres don't really fit, because it's kind of only a bit of each one (eh). Reviews are welcome :)
1. IronHawk

**Ear Biting** - IronHawk

* * *

It started slowly. At first, nobody really noticed it, or was bothered by it. Until they were.  
At first, Tony barely recognised it as odd. Yes, it may not have been completely normal, but it was pretty adorable. It may not have been common in all couples, but him and Clint couldn't exactly be classed as normal could they?  
It started as a slow progression from kisses to nuzzles, then to nibbles before little teeth marks could be clearly identified in little arcs along the top of Tony's ears.  
It first happened when Clint had come back from a week long mission; a week in which Tony had only left the lab twice. Tony had jumped when someone had suddenly draped their arms over his shoulders and rested their head on his shoulder, though he'd relaxed instantly as soon as he'd recognised the strength in the arms that cuddled him close.  
"You're finally back!" he had cheered quietly, thankful for his lover's safe return.  
Clint had only rotated his head to face Tony's.  
"You're being awfully quiet. What's up? You're not hurt right?"  
At the slight shake of a head and the brush of blond hair against his neck and cheek, some of his worry had ebbed away. He'd felt kisses being pressed into his neck and a tongue had flicked out against his ear for a fraction of a second.  
Tony had continued on his project, happy with the ministrations his boyfriend was carrying out, and happy in the knowledge that Clint had come back and he was safe. He'd startled minutely when he felt the graze of teeth against the tip of his ear, but had brushed it off as his imagination.  
Then it had happened again. Tony'd shaken it off as nothing and returned to his tinkering. That was all fine and dandy until he'd felt the quick but sharp pain as Clint bit his ear properly.

* * *

After that, it was pretty much a daily occurrence and he paid it no mind as Clint would often drop into the lab via the vents, drape himself over Tony's back and bite his ears, before kissing his cheek and leaping back into the vents to go and spar with Steve or Natasha.  
This went on for months, the team just becoming used to it. Team movie nights for example: Thor sprawled on the floor amongst an army of pillow pets, Natasha curled in one armchair, Bruce the other, Steve laying on the smaller of the two settees, leaving the "love-bugs" to the remaining sofa. Tony's shoulders would be pressed into the arm of the sofa, his back angled to the crease between the back and the seat cushions whilst Clint laid half on top and half in front of him, head pillowed on Tony's outstretched arm. At some point during the movie (see: minimum of 20 minutes in), Clint would get bored and turn to face Tony's chest, the light of the arc reactor illuminating his face in a blue glow. The others managed to finish the film, but when JARVIS turned the lights back on, they could all see the teeth marks lining both of Tony's ears.  
It never really bothered them, they just accepted it as another one of Clint's weird quirks. They also just assumed Tony was used to it, so used to it that he didn't even realise that it wasn't exactly a typical sign of affection. All was well with it until, during a debrief, Hill pointed it out as soon as Clint dropped from SHIELD's vents into his chair between his genius, billionaire, (ex)playboy, philanthropist boyfriend and his red-headed, ninja-assassin best friend.

"Barton." Hill snapped, watching as Clint leant to his left slightly to quickly nip Tony's ear before returning his full attention to her and Coulson.

"Yes?"  
"Why do you do that? Better yet, Stark, why do you _let_ him do that?"  
Silence rang through the room before a puzzled expression slipped over Tony's face as he asked,  
"Do what?"  
"Why do you let him bite your ears all the time?"  
She was genuinely perplexed; it was such a strange thing to do.  
"He doesn't."  
Bruce snorted.  
"Yes he does. We all just thought you were used to it, not that you weren't aware that he did it _all_ the time."  
Clint looked uncomfortable. He shifted slightly further toward Natasha, and further away from the table; nobody seemed to notice.  
"He really doesn't. Even if he does, what's the big deal? He's not biting your ears so what does it matter to you? If it bothers you so much, then sod off."  
The sound of clattering metal drew everyone's attention to the now empty seat where their Hawk had originally been sitting. Glances to the ceiling confirmed everyone's theory that Clint had gotten too uncomfortable and had taken to the vents as his form of escape.  
"See what you did?" Tony snapped as he stormed from the room, his chair tipping over in his haste to leave.  
Tony eventually found Clint. After an hour. All the way back at the tower. On the roof. After asking JARVIS. He still found him though.  
Tony wandered across the expanse of the roof, slowly closing in on Clint who stood at the very edge, peering down at the city with his bordering on superhuman eyesight.  
"Babe?"

* * *

After hearing the younger man sigh, he finally closed the remaining distance and wrapped his arms around Clint's waist, his hands soothingly rubbing his hips. Clint gently pressed backward, leaning his weight against Tony as well as moving them from the very edge, a small voice in his head popping and reminding him that Tony was uncomfortable with heights unless he had his suit.  
"It's nothing you did or said."  
Tony pressed a kiss into the strong shoulder under his chin in response.  
Another sigh before Clint continued.  
"It's just... I don't like being talked about like I'm not there, you know?"  
"And?"  
"Wait, what?"  
"Something else is bugging you. Come on, love, don't lie to me."  
There was a brief pause, the only sound washing over them being the lull of the city as afternoon wove into evening.  
"It doesn't bother you does it?"  
Tony couldn't help but let out a chuckle at the question.  
Clint turned in his arms, outrage evident on his face, before Tony chuckled once and kissed the frown away.  
"Babe, I honestly hadn't noticed how frequently you do it. Do you really think it bothers me?"  
A small smile crept onto Clint's features, it's sincerity showing as crystal blues lit up brighter than the lights of the city buildings that surrounded them. Tony returned it, staring into Clint's eyes as he whispered,  
"I don't care how weird you are, you're my weirdo. I love you Clint."  
"I love you too."  
There, on the roof of their home, they shared a kiss that symbolised that no matter how many quirks they had, how weird life got, biting ears would always be their thing.


	2. CaptainHawk

**Ear Biting** - CaptainHawk

Steve let out a soft 'oof' as something crashed into his back. Well, more leapt _onto_ rather than crashed _into_. Regaining his composure, he realised that he recognised the shape and size of the something that was clinging to him. Clint. As legs wrapped around his waist for stability, and arms around his neck, the customary sting appeared at his ear before being soothed by a talented tongue.  
"What's up, babe?" he asked his archer, supporting his boyfriend by winding his arms back to hold Clint up by settling under his backside.  
A muffled reply was all he received before his ear once again protested at the sharp but fleeting pain, and a head of soft blonde hair settled into the crook of his neck, Clint facing outwards, blue eyes closed.  
Steve couldn't help but chuckle as he continued on his original path to the communal living room. Even with his lover attached to his back like a limpet, he still had no issues getting there quickly enough to beat Natasha to the best snuggling spot for movie night.  
As the rest of the Avengers traipsed into the living room, Natasha cursed quietly in Russian as her favourite spot was already occupied by the captain and her best friend.  
"Вы должны получили здесь ранее, Таша!" Clint laughed, briefly removing his head from Steve's shoulder to look over at his red-headed partner.  
"Не будь засранцем, вы знаете, что это мое любимое место!" she snapped back, brushing curls out of her face quickly before stalking over to the larger of the two sofas, curling herself into the corner.  
"Мне очень жаль, я не собираюсь двигаться, но я сожалею." Clint chuckled slightly, not even the slightest pretence of remorse on his face.  
Natasha scowled. Steve could only laugh at the jovial expression on his Hawk's face, despite the fact he understood nothing of the short exchange. As the others settled around the room, the typical scene played out.  
Clint sat with his back pressed half to Steve's chest and half to his side, his boyfriend's arms wrapped around him, cuddling him. Steve hugged Clint to him tighter, his lover's blonde head resting on his shoulder. Throughout the film, Steve sporadically pressed kisses into Clint's neck, nuzzling the soft skin there before returning his attention to the film; Clint returned each gesture with a nip to the ear, rather than a kiss to the neck.

* * *

The rest of the Avengers had learned to block it out, used to the two being cuddly and sickeningly sweet virtually all of the time. Although just because the four of them were accustomed to it, didn't mean that everyone was. Pepper was one of these people.  
The CEO had dropped by the tower to give Tony an update on Stark Industries' current financial status when she wandered by the kitchen to see a peculiar, in her eyes anyway, scene play out before her. At first she just assumed she'd seen a kiss on the cheek, her eyes just distorting the image slightly. Though when she passed the kitchen on her way out, she saw the exact thing she'd thought she had the first time. Clint was _biting_ Steve's ears, and Steve was letting him?  
She said as much when she made the short trip into the room, frowning ever so slightly at the odd look on the archer's face. Starting a conversation with Steve, the redhead was near oblivious to Clint's escape, the clatter of the vent cover her only clue that the marksman had even left.

* * *

Steve found Clint hours later, round after round of small calibre bullets being embedded in the paper targets at the end of the range, a picture of Loki's face taped to each one. The Captain glanced to the left, sighing as he saw the many knives he knew Clint owned lodged into the wooden boards 20ft away from the yellow throwing line. A look to the right confirmed his other theory, targets in all shapes, sizes and places littered with arrows overlapping in the centre circle.  
He sighed once more, realising how stressed Clint must have been to have felt the need to resort to his third favourite form of stress relief. He waited until Clint was changing weapon, the handgun about to be swapped with the small assault rifle he could see laying behind the large 50 cal. sniper rifle, before he moved forward to wrap his arms around his smaller boyfriend.  
Resting his weight back against Steve, Clint settled into the embrace, tilting his head back as the super soldier started mouthing at his neck, butterfly pecks being interchanged with nipping bordering on biting kisses. Clint sighed. Steve frowned slightly as he pulled his head away, the resignation in Clint's tone ringing too soundly in the quiet training room.  
"What's wrong, babe?" he asked quietly, afraid that speaking louder would shatter the atmosphere that had settled over them as the reverberations from the weapon's discharge finally faded into nothing.  
"It's nothing... Just..." Clint murmured in reply, leaning back into Steve's arms a little more, turning slightly as he did so.  
"Just what, Clint?" Steve turned Clint the rest of the way, wrapping his lover up in his arms and hugging him tightly.  
Clint returned the embrace, resting his face against Steve's chest momentarily before responding.  
"It's just what Pepper said. I mean... I know she didn't mean it, but..."  
"But?"  
"You don't think it's weird, or abnormal, or strange, do you?"  
The uncertainty in his Hawk's voice threatened to break Steve's heart.  
"What? The fact you bite my ears?"  
The nod he felt did nothing to reassure him.  
"Clint, baby, forget what Pepper said. What we do is _our_ business, no one else's. Besides, I like it."  
Clint lifted his head and stared into Steve's eyes with an unwavering focus, cocking his head to one side as he did.  
"You do?"  
Steve nodded once before pecking Clint's lips in a chaste but sweet kiss.  
"It makes me feel like I'm marked as yours, and that no one can take me away from you. That, and it's different, like you. I like different."  
The blinding smile he received for his comments made him looking a little foolish by speaking so soppily seem irrelevant. The sharp sting at his ear made it even better.

* * *

**A/N: **here's a translation of the conversation between Natasha and Clint (sorry, I used google translate)

Clint: you have to get here earlier, Tasha

Natasha: don't be an asshole, you know that's my favourite spot

Clint: I'm sorry, I'm not gonna move, but I'm sorry


End file.
